Conventionally, a sunroof for introducing light from outside has been provided in the body of automobiles. The sunroof is formed by mounting a sunroof unit to the body.
Specifically, a sunroof unit mounting robot has been arranged in a manufacturing line for the body (refer to Patent Document 1). The sunroof unit mounting robot includes a robot arm and a hand provided to a leading end of this robot arm that supports the sunroof unit.
The hand is a rectangular frame shape, and includes two tapered pins, three cylinder units, two positioning pins, and eight nut runners. A bolt is clamped in each nut runner. The positions of the positioning pins and the nut runners in this hand are determined in advance based on the shape of the sunroof unit.
Operation of the above mounting robot is as follows.
First, the sunroof unit is held by the hand. More specifically, the sunroof unit is positioned relative to the hand, by inserting the positioning pins in the sunroof unit, and bolts clamped in the nut runners of the hand are inserted into bolt holes of the sunroof unit.
Thereafter, the robot arm is controlled to put the sunroof unit inside of the body from a front window opening of the body.
Next, the tapered pins of the hand are inserted in the positioning holes formed at the mounting positions on the body to position the hand relative to the body.
Then, the cylinder units are driven to bring the sunroof unit close to the mounting position of the body, and the nut runners are driven to thread the bolts into the nuts on the body.
According to such a mounting robot, the sunroof unit can be transported and mounted with one hand.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 2672825